


Mirage

by Lord Nyoka (SilverofSouls)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2490878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverofSouls/pseuds/Lord%20Nyoka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While wandering alone in the desert, Korra drinks some cactus juice and wrestles with memories from her recovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirage

Korra clutched the bottle in her hand with a shaking grip, asking herself for the hundredth time if she was really going to go through with this. The frigid air of the desert night blew sand from nearby dunes. Sounds of tiny shifting pebbles reminded her that what she had gathered from a cactus and saved in case of desperation was all she had left. Her lips were parched and torn from the wind, her fingers were stiff and sore from the strain of trying to bend what little moisture there was from the ground below.

The greenish liquid swirled beneath the rim, and she winced, recalling the last time she had allowed a similar substance to enter her body. She almost dropped the bottle for that reason alone before gripping it tighter, fighting against the hesitation as if it was some foe to be overcome by shoving the lid to her lips and letting the liquid slide down her throat.

* * *

_It’s not working,_  she thought to herself, quickening her pace across the sand, the skin on the bottom of her bare feet numb to the grains scraping against them. She stepped with purpose, vigor flooding her limbs and driving her in the direction she was suddenly sure was the right way to be going.

If you were to have asked her why, she wouldn’t have been able to tell you at all. And that was refreshing, honestly. She was relieved that the cactus juice hadn’t seemed to dull her sense at all. She had allowed herself more of it than she had initially intended to drink, too lost in the feeling of moisture in her mouth to stop until half the bottle was emptied.

Her next step faltered. Her arms fell forward, digging into the hot sand to catch the fall. As a result, she slid awkwardly, bending the sand around her fists and feet into rocks in a sudden panic response.

Grains of sand flew into her face as she fell, and she squeezed her eyes shut to keep them out, head reeling as she flipped over. The rocks around her limbs shattered apart. She tried to cry out, but her voice was too heavy from thirst and lack of use.

In a merciful jerk, the world stopped falling right as her head came in contact with a pillow of fine sand, sending it scattering in a pile as more grains shifted around her.

When Korra opened her eyes, she was walking on the sky. Cloudless blue void stretched endlessly beneath her feet, an expanse of dunes filling in a ceiling somewhere far above her head.

_Release your Earthly Tether. Enter the Void._

Zaheer’s voice echoed in her head as it had a thousand times before, but this time, the void of space around her seemed to act as a sounding board, amplifying whispers into screams, into fingers stroking the chapped skin of her forearms before slipping away into the shadows.

And that was when she felt the fear, gripping and ice cold, even at high noon in the desert. And beneath her in the endless sky, she saw the sun.

No, it wasn’t the sun. It was Raava.

She wanted to call out, but her parched throat wouldn’t let her. She wanted to reach out, but she was paralyzed again, and now all four of her limbs were frozen like useless icicles at her sides. She struggled against the sensations, wanting to scream in desperation before the feeling faded and she became aware, once more, of the feeling of sand against her face.

* * *

She stumbled on, hands spread out at her sides for balance, letting the horizon pitch up and down, back and forth, like the second hand of a broken clock.

This is the right way, she told herself firmly, still wholly unaware of where her confidence in the feeling was coming from.

_Where does her confidence come from at all?_ Came Amon’s crackling voice as if over a radio, snide and cruel, cutting through the static that had mercifully filled her head as she wandered.  _Why does she think that she can do_ anything!?

Korra closed her eyes again, clutching at her head tightly, fingers straining to keep her skull from breaking into pieces.

“Go AWAY!” she made herself scream, voice coming out as a broken squeak.

Her words worked like a spell, silencing the rush of whispers that had descended on her head in a sudden roar.

Slowly, her eyes opened to meet those of her father.

“You lied to me,” he accused flatly.

Before she could react, hands of stone shot from the sand beneath him, closing around his limbs and pulling him silently beneath the dunes. She wanted to scream, to reach out and save him, to do anything but stare stupidly at the spot in the earth where he had suddenly disappeared.

The shock of it hit her body in a sudden rush, and she trembled, dry heaving onto the sand. She forced the feeling aside with great effort, falling to her knees on the ground. She ripped madly at the sand, flinging it aside with fingers and bending alike, tunneling until she was nearly buried to her knees before she collapsed with a heavy sob.

_This isn’t real._

A third voice echoed in her mind like a lifeline.

_You’re dreaming._

She knew that voice.

_This isn’t real._

A nightmare, Korra realized. She was having a nightmare.

_I’m here for you._ _Do a reality check if you have to,_ the voice advised calmly. She felt warm breath against her ear at the instruction, shuddering at the vivid sense memory.

Slowly, Korra lifted her fists as she pulled her legs from the sand. With a single, sharp punch, she shot a flare of bright green flame from her knuckles.

The sight brought a smile to her lips. It was a dream, a dream she could take control over. She relaxed slightly.

_Good. Now…think about walking again, Korra. You can walk here. You can bend here. Let yourself feel that again._

She thrust her arm out again, sending a plume of purple smoke into the sky.

She was laughing now, smiling, because it was one of those rare nights when the voice came and made the dreams fun again. A brilliant cobalt flare filled the air around her and she almost laughed.

Spirits, she hadn’t had this dream since she was seven. It was freeing.

She danced across the sand for a long while after that, filling the sands with multicolored fire, but eventually, she slowed to a stop. Her feet turned to face the direction where the voice had been calling her from, the same voice that she felt whispered inside, lighting the way through the desert.

* * *

 

When the flashes of light first glittered on the horizon, Korra had slowed to a near crawl, trudging a slow path forward. She thought of Asami and her sand glider, the one they had built in the desert when they had been stranded together. Or had that been a dream, too?

Finally, Korra’s arm gave out beneath her, and she fell into the sand.

Everything in her body ached at once, filling her legs with paralyzing tension. The feeling spread up, traveling through her arms to the tips of her fingers.

“I can’t move,” she said bitterly, eyes too dry for the tears that would not come.

_Yes, you can,_ the voice whispered against her ear. She recognized it this time. Asami.

Heat flushed her face in a sudden flash of embarrassment and shame. “No…no I can’t! I can’t move or bend, or…or anything!”

_Let me help you. Please._

Hands were on her now, brushing her off, running over her tense muscles, offering soothing touches she was almost too numb to feel at first.

The warmth spread from the soothing fingers like fire, feeling returning to her limbs in tiny twitches.

“I-I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” she admitted after a moment, voice breaking with the effort it took to speak.

The hands retreated.  _I know. But I’m here to help you, Korra. Let me lift you up?_

The Avatar considered the offer, suddenly experiencing enough sensation to know that her current position was quite uncomfortable. Slowly, keeping her eyes shut tightly, she nodded.

The arms encircled her, slender but deceptively strong. The embrace was warm and comforting, a steady heartbeat throbbing against the chest she was pulled up against.

_I’ve got you,_ the voice whispered against her ear as she was gently let down and guided into a standing position. The moment she was vertical again, her eyes flew open and the hands faded, along with the memories. The wind had died down, and the clear, cool air of dusk revealed a small village on the horizon.

Korra fixed her gaze on it and forced herself to walk.

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this came from S4E2, Korra Alone, which contains a brief scene of Korra running towards a mirage of Raava. Rather than having her visually hallucinate Asami, I went with audio and tactile hallucinations because I wanted to tap into memories of Asami caring for Korra in her sleep during her recovery. A brief exercise, but I'm happy with how it turned out.


End file.
